About Us

Monday, 18 December 2017

During the first two weeks in November, I felt
terribly swamped and overwhelmed. Let me start from the beginning, I was
leaving for a vacation and I was physically sick. The Library Marketing team
and I had to put the final touches to the Library Newsletter, I had this blog
to write, some urgent tasks to attend to, pack for my vacation, that endless
“to-do” list and my body was just letting me down. I decided to hit that PAUSE
button for a moment and spent the time listening to some music.

This segues into my second PAWS. During my visit to
the Gerstein Science Information Centre at the University of Toronto I was told
about their “PAWS for a study break” programme.

The Gerstein library staff noticed increased levels of
student stress and anxiety amongst medical students, whilst providing them with
research assistance. Gerstein decided to implement the animal-assisted therapy
(AAT) programme. This basically gave the students a break from their studying
during the exam period by them having several sessions with a therapy dog.
According to the staff the AAT programme was well received and positive.

Florence Nightingale was one of the first well-known
healthcare professionals to observe the positive influences of small animals on
her chronically ill patients. This was as early as 1860. Since then the
benefits from exposure to AAT, both psychological and physical have been well
documented. However, there is little clinical evidence that supports the impact
AAT has on patients in the long term.

The use of furrier activity has become widespread in
hospital waiting rooms, assistance with physical therapy, to help patients cope
with trauma, mental health disorders, support to prisoner health and comfort in
disaster areas.

University libraries globally have been experimenting
with therapy dogs as a means to engage students and provide a more supportive
environment during exam time. Some of the qualitative feedback from students
indicated expressions of happiness, relaxation, a connection with the dogs.
With some students interactions with pets was a new experience.

AAT could be beneficial to our students at the
University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). We are approaching a new academic year in
January 2018. Attending university is stressful and, consequently, mental and
emotional support systems play a crucial role in fostering student well-being.
Not only do students have considerable academic pressures to cope with, but
they are often living away from home for the first time and integrating into
new social groups. For our newly registered students, many will have to learn
to cope with leaving home and living in residences. The transition from high
school to a tertiary institution can also be difficult to cope with.

The human-animal bond could have a positive effect on
reducing the effects of stress, anxiety, homesickness and loneliness. Hence,
interactions with dogs can modify stress and positively affect the mood amongst
our students.

Could our friends with PAWs be able to promote
retention and student satisfaction amongst all of our students at UKZN? Should
we PAWs for a moment at UKZN?

References:

Bell, A. 2013. Paws for a Study Break: Running an
Animal-Assisted Therapy Program at the Gerstein Science Information Centre.
Partnership: the Canadian Journal of
Library and Information Practice and Research, 8.